The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1887-12-23

whole road ahead of us? Ii so, we would
do well to abandon our efforts for the
destruction of bridges and seek our own
safety. OF one thing we felt sure, it
must have been ONE of the trains we had
passed at Calhoun or Adairsvillc that was
following, but why? There were three
possibilities only to choose from. The
first and less serious was that the sus-
picious conductor at Calhoun, who had
been so unwilling to let us pass, had de-
termined that we were impostors. and Mt
his own motion had set out to follow lis.
If so, we would have to deal only with
him, and might yet accomplish part Of
our work. Or it might be that the freight
had run to where we had broken up the
track, had escaped wreck, and, turning
back, had telegraphed ahead before
we had cut the wire. In this
case all the. road ahead would be
alarmed, and this was probable indeed.
Or, once more, q messenger might have
been sent down to Marietta from Big
Shanty, and q dispatch sent to Atlanta
and around the whole circuit of the
Confederacy back to Chattanooga, and,
before the wires had been cut, to one Of
the trains we had passed, with orders to
follow us closely and prevent us from
be sent out from Chattanooga to secure
our capture. If either CT these latter
conjectures were true-and they were the
most probable-our race was almost run!
We would be obliged to leave the road, and
essay the far more difficult task Of
escaping on foot. If Andrews thought
either of these probably true, it would
fully account for his reluctance in order
ing tho capture Of q pursuing train; for
such a capture could do no permanent
good, while every one of his party wounded
in the fight would be disabled for the in
evitable and terrible land journey ahead,
and would surely be lost. In view Of the
almost hopeless situation as it appeared
to us then-far worse than the reality,
for the road ahead had not been warned
as yet-the heroic constancy of Andrews,
who continued to put forth every possible
effort as coolly and quietly rs il success
had been within his grasp, Is made
brightly conspicuous There were now
three chasing trains; first, Fuller and his
men with the locomotive Of tho down
freight; second, the Calhoun passenger,
which had Immediately followed him and
was not very far behind; and last, the
train started from Marietta, and loaded
with soldiers
For time after leaving Resaca we did
not run very fast. 1t was evident that We
could not get away from the engine be-
hind us by mere speed; the only hope was
in some way to disable them, or to OBJ
sfruct the track; and we were obliged to
be saving of our fuel. But now we were
approaching Green's, wood station near
Tilton, and we were determined to have
fresh supply at any cost. So the last wood
in the box, with a little of our precious
Gil, was showed into the furnace, and
Brown, who had now taken the throttle,
turned on full head of steam, and we
once more flew along the track. At the
same time we who were In the box car
put line of ties along its floor and kept
them moving to the hole in the end, and
let them drop as fast as possible on the
track. This was rapidly exhausting our
ammunition, but it was effectual in enforc-
ing slowness and caution upon our pur-
suers. Fuller could not run rapidly in
the face Of such n succession of obstacles.
lie did the best he could, giving the sig
nal to reverse whenever he saw a tie on
the track, jumping Off and removing it,
and on again, when the engineer would
start with full head of steam, and re-
Guce speed, as the engine gathered heac-
way to such rate rs would admit Of
stopping id time when another tie was
seen. 1t was fearfully perilous, and the
only wonder is that he was not wrecked
long before the chase was done. But he
probably understood that we were racing
for the wood ward shend